Have you ever done this?  You begin something and then start questioning the wisdom of it.  You wonder if people really understand why (or if they care).  You think that maybe you should have waited until someone asked.  Well, that’s par for the course for me.  (I told you the elevator didn’t go all the way up to the top, the deck was not full, etc.)  Today’s post is just me, explaining myself.  I’m guessing that this will happen frequently, because it’s part of what I need to get out of my head…

I started putting down some random thoughts to form this blog a week or so ago and the concept was a little muddy around the edges, but I was very definite in my intent.  I have found myself spending more and more time recently in mindless pursuits, silly games on the internet, TV watching, and yes, even Facebook.  My objective in writing the blog was to follow through on a longtime goal of communicating what’s important to me, while freeing myself from the prison that all of us are in danger of lingering in; the mundane and pedestrian routine that binds us and keeps us from excellence in living and in expressing ourselves.

Let’s face it, Farmville and Cafe World, even World of Warcraft (never played it myself) don’t inspire us to higher expression.  Quite the opposite, they depress the individuality and uniqueness with which our Creator has endowed us.  You can’t tell me that you become a better person as you mindlessly plant fake plots of land with fake seeds with the click of a button, only to come back a day or two later to reap the fake crop with another click of a button.  Likewise, blasting into oblivion the avatars of unseen online opponents, who are plying a joystick halfway across the continent, has zero benefits, either in reality or even in the fertile ground of one’s mind.  Any accomplishment made today will disappear tomorrow, any emotional high brought on by a great victory will most certainly be followed by depression and the need to eclipse that victory with another, greater one to feel the high again.

And television!  I don’t really want to start down that road…unreal reality shows filled with fake personalities, modern day freak shows that voyeuristic adults (and kids) can’t turn away from, dramas filled with actions and language so vile that none of us would countenance any deed from them in our homes (yet we open the conduit and fill our living rooms with the garbage day after day).  No wonder our kids are leaving our lifestyles and principles in droves as they mature!  We don’t communicate with them except to give them the means to access this garbage, and we even sit and bathe in it ourselves with them night after night.  To say that we don’t communicate with them is a major misstatement.  We just don’t say words.  But, I guarantee you they get the message!  How can they help it?

Tired of the preaching yet?  Okay, I’m done for tonight.  It would be easy for me to take the words written above and think of them in terms of families with young children, or of young married couples, and talk about the need to make drastic changes. But it never made any difference when I was that age, so I’m pointing tonight to myself.  This blog is a small step for me along the path of recovery.  I’m going to learn to communicate again.  I’m guessing the results will be a little spotty, especially if the first week of posts is any indicator.  Some of my stuff you’ll love, some you’ll hate.  Probably most of it will be on neither extreme and you’ll just tolerate it, if you continue to read it at all.

Regardless, I’m going to continue to press on.  Hopefully you’ll be able to see who I am as you read.  I hope you’ll be generous enough to make comments (both encouragement and criticism).  Although I’ll try to spend time writing every day, you probably won’t see a new post that often.  I’m finding that even though I have lots of ideas that have been stuck in my brain that I want to communicate, many of them can’t be said right now without arousing anger or shock and I don’t want to do either.  So some things will stay unsaid until I find a better way to communicate them, half-baked ideas in the oven of knowledge and wisdom, waiting until they are fully cooked.  Give them time…

Finally, friends, whatever things are true, lovely, and well thought of…If there is any benefit, any excellence, these are the things to let your minds dwell on. (my paraphrase of Philippians 4:8)